318 Tasting Notes

As soon as I get back to school, as soon as I have money, I’m buying myself a cake of this.

Beautiful Boy messaged me (he NEVER messages me!) and we’re listening to Les Preludes again – he missed it the first time around. I for my part am trying not to be overly depressing in chat… save that for my sourcebook.

It’s a beautiful piece. They pack three orchestras into a concert hall designed for one, and they have dancers that dance all around: in front, in the aisles, and on the roof. It’s always the same but there’s no need to change it.

Split open my sample of this today to make a few lattes. I don’t make them very often, because I’m lazy, but this is my third today… and I’ve started practicing latte art too! There was a heart in the foam here :)

Not sure if this should go under chance combinations or straight, but I mixed in a bit of lavender. I don’t like Earl Greys plain, but as an ingredient in other things I don’t mind them.

Sad night. Watched Interlochen’s Les Preludes webcast. Cried. Brought back so many memories. I probably go back to that night daily, the last time I was there, but I’ve forgotten what it was like, really.

Preparation

Free sample from the last time I ordered. I waited to try it until I could get my camera/computer working together again… the card reader isn’t working anymore, which is annoying, but I suppose I’ll muddle through. Anyone want to chip into the Shell Buys A New Computer fund?

(crickets)

Onto the tea then. It’s a fairly light colored tisane, sort of like the inside of a pear! There’s a tartness to the flavor that I wouldn’t necessarily consider a pear. Looking at the ingredients, I see apple – that’s exactly it. It’s a decently authentic apple tea with pear at the finish of the sip.

I might like this more if it was marketed as apple-pear… when I expect pear, I expect pear. Especially compared with the Caramalized Pear from Art of Tea that recently came in Steepster Select, this just doesn’t cut it for me.

It is a good tea, though.

UPDATE: Oh, this shines on ice. Just noticed that David’s actually recommends it. The apple takes a backseat, and it’s all pear and vanilla. I’m considering buying some now.

I tried this hot. No dice. I brewed it hot, and poured it over ice. Still too sour. Finally, I’m cold-brewing the last of the tea. I used a bit less than I usually would (probably 3-4tsp for 24ish oz), and then steeped for somewhere around 8 hours.

It’s drinkable, actually. It’s sweeter and the hibiscus isn’t as overpowering. It still is overpowering, but it’s not as bad. What I really want to do is add either a touch of agave or simple syrup, but I don’t have agave and I didn’t feel like making any simple syrup, so I just had it straight.

Not one I’d order again, but should it ever cross my path, I’m glad I figured out how to enjoy it.

Second steep: – 15s – Sweet. I begin to taste a bit of the “age” on it – it’s not heavy like a pu’erh would be, but it doesn’t taste fresh. It’s not stale, it just doesn’t taste new.

Third steep – 25s: I’m beginning to get some of the semolina or wheat notes that Verdant mentions. It’s surprising to get this out of a white, as I’d normally expect it from a black, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s a very dry steep.

Rainy day tea! We took the dog to the park and he loved diving in the water and barking at rocks. Why he can’t chase sticks or toys like a normal pup, we’ll never know. And then it started to rain so we packed up and came home.

This is lovely and smoky but somehow clear at the same time – like drinking a summer’s night where the smoke isn’t being blown into your eyes!

Preparation

Mmh, calming tea. Stayed up till 3 am because The Boy was online… bad decisions. I feel like a middle schooler whenever I talk to him… maybe because it’s been that long since I’ve actually liked someone this much! And even though I got a decent amount of sleep, I still had to be at work at 11. And had to be extra-peppy because I was training a new girl, and so of course I can’t just put the cheerful persona away when I’m in between customers – I’ve got to talk to her too. She’s lovely, though, and I like her a lot. It’s just exhausting.

And I came home and locked myself in my room and haven’t really eaten anything outside of tea, a bagel, and some cucumber slices all day.

But this is lovely. Soft, a little bit floral, a little bit lemony. See previous notes for more info.

Ooh, I love this. The scent of the tisane in the bag is beautiful – like a ripe brown Bartlett pear. I really don’t eat many pears because I can’t stand being messy, and they drip a lot. But we grow them at the apple orchard where I used to work, and they always were fabulous there, right off the tree.

Okay. Boiling water, poured into my TARDIS tea mug (For you DW fans: I realized a bit late that I was drinking pear-flavored tea in the TARDIS. SORRYTEN!) (For you non-DW fans… don’t judge me!) and steeped for approximately, 5-7 minutes? I forgot about it, and stopped steeping when I could smell it from across the room. On the plus side, the little infuser included in the Steepster Select box fits PERFECTLY across the square shape of the mug, which is good, because most mugs aren’t square!

Drinking this, it tastes exactly as it smells. I really love it. There’s just the right hint of caramel to pear to rooibos. The pear comes first, and the rooibos and caramel flavors are intermingled. When it was boiling hot, all I could taste was faint hints of rooibos, but as it cools the sweetness really comes out. This is fantastic. So glad for it to have been included

Spoilers for Steepster Select’s final box… I probably shouldn’t post this yet, but I’m excited.

This is the first SS box I’ve gotten. I was about to brew a cup of Teavivre’s Fengquing Black Dragon Pearls (quickly becoming my favorite black) when the mailman showed up. Okay, I’ll see what’s in the box. I’ve never tried a Verdant tea before, but I’ve been dying to.

So I saw this and immediately decided to brew up a mug. The dry leaves are really soft and smooth, and almost remind me of plastic. And they have a strong, unique scent – sort of like dark chocolate, malt balls and whole wheat bread. It’s enticing.

First sip: dry astringency and wheat. It’s still a bit hot, so it wasn’t a proper sip. Trying it again: dark, bitter chocolate with wheat in the background. I think I steeped it a bit too strongly, but that’s totally okay. This tea is somehow dry and smooth all at once. Delicious.

It was for the past year Steepster’s Tea of the Month club. This was its last package in its current incarnation. I believe they are reworking it to be slightly different, and it will hopefully be back soon!